In February 2007 we adopted two kids (then ages 9 and 11) and I decided at the last minute to take parental leave.   It was an unplanned move and we had no contingency fund set aside to cover the sudden loss of 2/3 of my income while simultaneously doubling our family size.

Kids are expensive. They need clothes, toys, child care and extracurricular activities.   Every 2-3 hours they also demand to be fed.

It’s this last expense that I’ve spent the better part of the past two years trying to wrangle with and actually determine what is the cost to feed a family of four.   Or rather, what is the optimal cost to feed MY family of four.

The cost of feeding our family has come to light again in recent weeks.   It’s the one budget line item we consistently over spend.

While the cost of goods and services has increased by 1.2%, it’s the reported food cost increase that made me do a double take.   While my bank account must clearly already know this, the cost of food has increased an astronomical 9.5% in Canada over last year as reported in the Globe & Mail.

The internet is abound with articles on how to feed a family on $100 or even $50 a week, but I just don’t see how that would work for our household.   Basic welfare rates, which any poverty activist would inform you, are insufficient and substandard would likely provide my family with approximately $107 a week for food.   As a local woman who experimented with this would tell you, this amount barely covers the basics.

I want to know is what is the REAL cost of feeding a family of four?

Taking me a little bit closer to solving this mystery, The Walrus included a photo essay entitled Our Weekly Bread depicting families around the world with the contents and final costs of their weekly grocery shopping displayed in their homes.   From $30 a week in Mali to $329 in the USA, this photo essay takes readers around the globe to peer into human food consumption.   But the most interesting aspect is the basis for the project.   It was inspired by a fact uncovered by photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D’Aluisio – the same number of people in the world are overfed as underfed.

When the kids first moved in we worked on a food budget of $125 a week which over the past two years has grown to $175 a week.   Is this reasonable?   Is my family over or underfed?

Photo credit: stock.xchng.